In today's complex, fast paced economy, many projects exist that require various goods and/or services to be provided by numerous organizations (hereafter, “sellers”) while also requiring relationships for providing and monitoring such goods/services to be quickly and efficiently established. Examples of such projects include drilling for oil, commercial and/or residential construction, manufacturing complex objects (for example, aircraft and special use objects), and providing specialized services (for example, brokering excess power and bandwidth, and developing unique software products). When planning such projects, the person(s) responsible for the project (hereinafter, the “buyer”) is often faced with the daunting tasks of: (1) designing the project and planning the phases of implementation; (2) determining which goods/services are needed; (3) determining providers (sellers) of such goods/services; (4) establishing a dialogue with such sellers; (5) selecting at least one seller to provide one or more goods/services; (6) starting, managing, and monitoring the project until completion or termination; (7) facilitating post-completion tasks (for example, paying sellers and other back-end processing); (8) analyzing the events of the project to identify areas of improvement for future projects and (9) other related tasks.
Commonly, when faced with such a challenge, many buyers rely upon antiquated systems and processes for accomplishing those tasks necessary implement a project from start to post-completion. Such antiquated systems include, for example: utilizing business listings and other directories to identify sellers; negotiating agreements with the sellers via facsimile, telephone, and other non-real-time responsive systems; and making best-guess judgments as to areas in which future improvements may be realized. As a result, many buyers relying upon such antiquated processes are often left behind in today's fast paced, Internet-driven, information economy. As such, a system is needed that allows buyers to be efficiently matched with sellers, and projects monitored, managed, and coordinated through all phases of the project.
For example, when constructing a building, a general contractor must decide which seller will provide excavation services, what type of materials to use, when the materials will be used, who will supply the materials, who will use the materials (i.e., who will actually construct the building) and other various factors. Currently, when constructing a building, the builder might use a Rolodex® or a personal data assistant (PDA) (for example, a PALMS® device) with contacts to choose preferred sellers to provide the desired goods/services. Upon identifying a seller, the buyer may then engage in a dialogue with the seller about the project parameters, and may solicit proposals for methods to complete specific tasks. Since each seller may identify a unique manner for accomplishing the specified task, the buyer is often left to determine, for example, which seller has identified the best approach, will provide the best value, and can best meet the schedule. Since such determinations can be quite time consuming, buyers generally do not have time to shop for other than a limited number of sellers for any given project. As such, new sellers on the market, and/or new techniques may often be overlooked.
Further compounding the problems faced by buyers in identifying and coordinating goods/services from sellers is that sellers often dictate the purchase processes used to acquire goods/services needed for the project (e.g., auction, fixed price and quantity systems, and other systems well known in the art). For some of these purchase processes, most of the essential terms of the agreement are dictated or controlled by the seller, while the buyer has little input over terms such as price, delivery, location, and quantity. Examples of such seller driven processes include retail, mail order, telephone, and some on-line sales systems. For example, a builder desiring to procure nails might be required by a retail sales process or an on-line sales process to purchase nails only in bundles of 200, for a set price. Since the buyer cannot modify the goods/services or terms or conditions of the procurement process, the buyer's needs are often inadequately, untimely, and inefficiently fulfilled.
Additionally, recent automation of the aforementioned seller-driven processes (for example, via the Internet) has not adequately addressed this problem. While the new, automated processes generally enable a buyer to shop for goods and/or services, for example, without having to travel to the seller's location or obtain a catalog, such processes are commonly characterized by sellers offering items of commerce under seller specified terms and conditions. Such processes do not allow a buyer to identify a project in terms of its specifications, and have the specifications translated into requests for goods/services that are then fulfilled in a timely and efficient manner by a seller providing the requested goods/services or suitable alternatives. Additionally, such processes often do not identify sellers of specialty goods/services and, therefore, are often inadequate for the provisioning of goods and/or services that are not commonly mass marketed. In short, a more efficient process of matching buyers and sellers is needed.
Examples of presently available buyer driven processes include bidding processes and auctions. Regardless of the process (whether bid-based or auction-based), a buyer is generally first required to identify specific goods/services that are needed to complete a project. None of the available processes allow a buyer to specify a project in terms of project details or parameters that are then automatically converted into requests for proposals, requests for specific goods, or other such proposals. Additionally, none of the available processes provide ready access to information to help a buyer, or seller, determine the appropriate details necessary to adequately specify a project or respond to such a request. As is appreciated by those skilled in the art, converting specifications for complex projects into specific requests for goods/services is extremely time consuming, is often incomplete, and is extremely inefficient because the buyers often can not precisely identify and/or specify those goods/services available and needed to fulfill a project. As such, today's buyer driven processes do not provide the degree of flexibility, specificity, and efficiency necessary for many buyers of goods/services. Therefore, a process is needed that enables a buyer to procure those goods/services necessary to undertake and complete a project by providing a project's specifications to an automated process that facilitates the conversion of such specifications into requests for goods/service and matches the buyer with sellers of such goods/services.
Additionally, once an agreement has been entered into to provide goods/services needed to fulfill a project, systems are not available that enable both buyers and sellers to monitor the progress of the project, efficiently implement design changes, provide billing and other back-office functions, and determine areas for improvement by utilizing knowledge based systems. Thus, a process is needed that enables buyers/sellers to enter into agreements for projects and monitor such projects from initialization through post-completion/termination.
Similarly, once goods have been delivered or a service has been performed, processes are not available that enable both buyers and sellers to efficiently compare and reconcile actual costs and project outcomes with the estimated costs and technical specifications provided by a seller in response to a service request, provide for a revision and approval process, and ultimately provide invoices that accurately reflect the goods and services provided. With many complex projects deliveries are made and services are provided in discrete stages over the course of the project. For example, a commercial response for lumber, for a particular project, may detail the various types, sizes, and pricing for the lumber while providing a final total price. However, the delivery may actually be performed in stages over the course of the project. These services are generally documented by delivery tickets or tickets provided at the time deliveries are made and services rendered. In other instances, ongoing services may be recognized by tickets submitted on a regular basis, e.g., weekly or monthly.
Unfortunately, there is great difficulty in reconciling these tickets and allocating them to the appropriate project. Many times tickets are never received by the office accounting departments. For buyers, this means that they have no record of goods or services actually being provided. For sellers, this may mean that they are unable to or fail to invoice a buyer for goods or services rendered. Often it is a nightmare for buyer and seller accounting departments to keep track of tickets because proper routing and coding procedures often are overlooked in the field. As such, much time may be spent on the telephone attempting to contact foremen at job sites to confirm deliveries or services rendered or with the seller to determine to which project the ticket relates. Fraud is also an issue as many times false invoices are presented and paid under the assumption that the ticket was lost because it is too difficult or time consuming to identify the related tickets. Thus a process is needed to enable such reconciliation of proposal prices and project results with actual costs and technical specifications before approval and invoicing.